A solid place in a confusing world . . .

If I had to describe Covid with one word, it would be confusing! At first, it was a mild threat. Then it became more serious, depending on who you listened to. Since those early days, the instructions, protocol or whatever terms you want to use, have changed dozens of times. Right now where I live, there are few mandates and instructions from government and health authorities, but that could change any minute since another ‘wave’ is predicted and case statistics are rising. In other parts of the world, this rise is alarming as Covid seems to be hunting down younger people and those unvaccinated. However, what is happening depends on who you listen to and reports are confusing and conflicting.

Another aspect adding to the confusion concerns the vaccination. Strong opinion prevail but what is true and what is speculation? Responses to the shot vary from “like a mosquito bite” to serious problems and more confusion.

Today my Bible concordance stopped me at the word UNCHANGEABLE. It appears in only a few places English but applied to God gives me an anchor during the confusion of Covid and all the other things going on in the world, such as radicals taking over a middle eastern nation, an earthquake that killed thousands, and fires burning out of control with so much smoke that smoke alarms are screaming inside homes that are hundreds of miles from the fires. I crave the security of having my life in the control of God who is unchangeable.

Job was in a far worse situation personally. His family and all that he had was destroyed. His health was gone. His ‘friends’ accused him of some secret sin that was causing his misfortunes. But Job had an anchor:

Job 23:13–14. “But (God) is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.”

This man knew he was not being punished for anything in particular and that God was in charge of his life. He also knew that God was good and that when He was finished with him, he would come forth as gold. In other words, the trials he experienced had a good purpose because God is good and that was always true — God never changes.

The NT takes a different approach to this truth. This time the reference is to the fact that God does not lie — ever. He is not going to change or flip out and be unreliable. The theological word is immutable. He can be trusted because His character and purposes remain the same.

Hebrews 6:16–20. “For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf . . . .”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. A few weeks ago we stopped at a farm where my parents once lived. They died years ago yet being there gave me a sense of security in realizing some things have not changed. Even after twenty years of belonging to others, Dad’s pool table was still in the basement of the house. His shop stood in the yard where he straightened bent nails and fixed his toaster. In a greater way, that sense of security envelops me when I think of God being always the same. He has not ‘died’ as some claim and Hebrews 13:8 is clear: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”